Plan to Eat is definitely our favorite meal-planning app by far.
In this review, we’ll explain some of the great features that have kept us loyal
You can listen to us discuss the app below or continue reading on for a quick summary.
About Plan to Eat (PTE)
Before we discuss our review of Plan to Eat, I want to take a moment to talk about the company itself.
As a conscious consumer, I like to learn about the companies I purchase from to ensure that I support their values and overall vibe.
On their About page, PTE makes a point to say that their app isn’t just about cooking; it’s about connection. They say,
“By providing tools that streamline the meal planning process, we equip households to eat better food, eat together, save money at the grocery store, and have a less stressful cooking experience in the kitchen.”
Here are a few ways they walk their talk.
No Ads or Pop-Ups
One of the first things you’ll notice when you’re in the app is that you’re not bombarded with pop-ups and ads. The site is designed to give its customers a clean stress-free user experience without a lot of distractions.
Risk-Free 30-Day Free Trial
Another pleasant surprise you’ll find is a 30-day free trial that doesn’t require a credit card to get started. I do a lot of free trials for different things and the vast majority require a credit card, which can be stressful in itself just to keep up with. How many times have you been charged for something you ended up not wanting because you forgot to cancel your trial? So frustrating!
You won’t find any hidden costs in this app or any means of trying to trick you into subscribing. As a matter of fact, if you do subscribe and decide you don’t want to keep it, they also offer a 60-day hassle-free refund policy.
No Investors
First, there isn’t that “startup mentality” of acquiring as many customers as possible just so that they can sell the company to a bigger conglomerate and move on.
Second, investors often have their own agendas, which lead them to try to influence companies to improve their bottom line by any means possible. While this isn’t 100% always a bad thing, it can sometimes result in the customer not being the number one priority.
Now that we’ve told you about why we like the company itself, let’s talk about why we LOVE the app!
Key Features of The Plan to Eat App
Collecting Recipes
Recipe Clipper
The recipe clipper on
We’ve discussed in the past that Larissa and I have very different tastes when it comes to food, so the fact that we can each save our own favorites from just about anywhere is a great way to create a customized meal plan that we’ll both enjoy.
I also love to save recipes non-vegetarian recipes and switch out or delete ingredients to make them veg-friendly.
Sharing Recipes and Plans
Another nice feature is that you can share recipes and meal plans with friends. You can choose to make certain recipes public or keep them private.
Organizing Your Recipes
You can organize your recipes by:
- Course/ Cuisine/ Main Ingredient
- Fully customizable tags (ex. allergen-free, dairy-free, crockpot, etc.)
- Your own personal star rating
The Cooking View
If you’ve ever used your phone, laptop, or tablet to cook from, you know that it can be frustrating to have to keep tapping the screen to keep it awake. When you’re in PTE’s cooking view, you don’t need to worry about that because your screen will stay awake.
Meal Planner
Meal planning has been a topic we’ve discussed several times on the podcast because it’s key to helping you stick to your health goals.
When Larissa and I fail to plan, we find that we’re much more tempted to order takeout or eat junk food. This can sometimes lead to a downward spiral into poor eating habits.
As you plan, it adds ingredients to your shopping list, so no more forgetting a key ingredient.
The menus and calendar planning options let you plan out your meals for future weeks and months, too. Easily reschedule meals by duplicating, dragging, and dropping them on your calendar.
Meal Prep
Another topic we’ve covered on the podcast is meal prep and batch cooking. Confession time — I had no idea that this app had a feature that could help me track meals I’ve prepared ahead of time and stored in my freezer!
Simply click a recipe on your planner and select “add to freezer.” You can include the date your meal was frozen, the number of meals, and the number of servings to help you track what you have saved. This can help reduce food waste. No more finding something that was frozen 2 years ago stuffed in the back of your freezer.
Shopping List
This feature lets Larissa and me shop like a boss! With
Another great feature is that you can create separate grocery lists for different stores. For example, we have a list for our neighborhood grocery store but we also have separate lists for Trader Joe’s, Costco, and Whole Foods.
Is Plan To Eat Worth It?
If you haven’t guessed our answer to this question yet, it’s YES — we think the app is totally worth the $39 a year (price at the time of this review).
The one drawback I can point out (if I’m being super picky) is that it does have a little bit of a learning curve. It’s not super hard to learn but you’d be doing yourself a favor by taking some time to watch their tutorials.
Over the years they’ve added more videos to help you get the most out of the app. Recently (in 2022) they created a Learning Series to help you get started.
Don’t forget, you can take it for a free 30-day test drive!